Beginning with the Shabbat following Shiva Asar B’Tamuz, the haftarot shift away from reflecting the themes of their accompanying parshiot and instead feature special readings from Yirmiyahu and Yeshayahu, the great prophets of rebuke who warned of Jerusalem’s destruction and exile. Yet, even within this pivot away from the weekly parsha, there is a compelling connection between this week’s haftarah and Parshat Pinchas; one that offers a powerful insight about the role of rebuke in leadership.

Yirmiyahu and Yeshayahu were not celebrated figures in their own times. Their mission – to confront hypocrisy and corruption – made them deeply unpopular. The Talmud (Yevamot 49b) records that Yeshayahu was ultimately killed by the wicked King Menashe, a sobering fate for a prophet who had enjoyed a warm and productive relationship with that ruler’s father, the righteous King Chizkiyahu (II Kings 19). Yet even Chizkiyahu was not exempt from prophetic criticism: When he stripped the Temple treasury to pay tribute to the Assyrians, the prophets rebuked him for it (see Pesachim 56b).

Yirmiyahu fared no better: he was imprisoned as a national-security threat because of the unpopularity of his message (Jeremiah 37:15).........

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